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- performance of any of the acts referred to in Article 238, paragraph 2, if such
an act is performed in relation to a protected layout design, or an integrated
circuit in which such a layout design has been incorporated, which has been
placed on the market of any territory or country by the holder or with his
consent, leading to the exhaustion of his rights;
- performance of any of the acts referred to in Article 238, paragraph 2, in
relation to an integrated circuit incorporating an unlawfully reproduced layout
design or any article incorporating such an integrated circuit, if the person
accomplishing or commissioning this act was not aware or had no reason to
think, when purchasing the integrated circuit or the article incorporating such
an integrated circuit, that it contained an unlawfully reproduced layout
design;
- performance of any of the acts referred to in Article 238, paragraph 2, if such
an act is performed in relation to an identical original layout design that has
been created independently by a third party.
However, once this person has been duly notified that the layout design has been
unlawfully reproduced, he may only perform any of the acts referred to above in
relation to the stock he has or had ordered before being so notified, and must pay
the holder an amount equivalent to a reasonable fee that would be due under a
freely negotiated license for such a layout design.
Article 240: Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 239, paragraph 3, the Minister
responsible for trade shall be entitled to declare, on his own initiative or at the
request of any interested party, that the rights to the certificate for a layout
design of integrated circuits have been exhausted and to authorize a third party
to import the certified product or a product manufactured directly or indirectly
by means of the certified invention from another territory if this product is not
available in the territory of Burundi or is available in insufficient quality or
quantity to meet local demand or at prices which the Minister deems abusive or
on any other grounds of public interest, including anti-competitive practices,
provided that:
1. the product has been introduced into commercial channels in the territory
from which it is to be imported by the certificate holder or with his consent;
2. the certificate claiming the product or process used to produce it is in force in
the territory from which the product is to be imported and is the property of
the same person who holds the certificate in Burundi or that of a person under
his control.
Article 241: If the importer does not perform the function which justified the Minister’s
decision to consider that the holder’s rights have been exhausted, the Minister
shall revoke the authorization on his own initiative or at the holder’s request.
Article 242: In the event that the conditions underlying the Minister’s decision to consider
that the holder’s rights have been exhausted no longer obtain, the Minister may,
on his own initiative or at the holder’s request, revoke the authorization provided